Nigeria has lost $4.3 million over the last two years as a result of oil
theft in the Niger Delta, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative said in a press statement published on its website last week.
NEITI's executive secretary, Zainab Ahmed, called for urgent collaboration
between oil companies, communities and government and security agencies to
provide an adequate response to the theft after visiting Royal Dutch Shell
PLC's (RDSA) Bonny Oil Terminal.
Ahmed expressed concern that oil theft, proliferation of illegal refineries,
pipe line vandalization, and environmental pollution in the Niger Delta have
risen to alarming proportions and become a major threat to the country's
economy.
Pipeline damage as a result of illegal bunkering frequently disrupts the flow
of
Nigeria
's oil
to international markets. Most Recently, Shell was forced to declare force
majeure on its exports of Bonny Light crude due to "incessant crude theft
and illegal bunkering on Nembe Creek Trunkline."
Nigeria
is Africa's largest oil producer.